Norway awards 48 licenses for mature areas on NCS

Jan. 30, 2007
BG Group, Premier Oil PLC, and Sweden's PA Resources are some of the companies securing acreage in the mature parts of the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea under Norway's licensing round for predefined areas. Norway offered 48 production licenses in total.

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

LONDON, Jan. 30 -- BG Group, Premier Oil PLC, and Sweden's PA Resources are some of the companies securing acreage in the mature parts of the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea under Norway's licensing round for predefined areas. Norway offered 48 production licenses in total.

BG will be operator of a license in the Bream exploration area in the southern North Sea and will drill a well within 2 years. It also has acquired a 25% interest in a license in the North Tampen area in the northern North Sea. The license award carries a commitment for seismic and a future "drill or drop" decision within 3 years.

Premier also was awarded an operating license in the Bream exploration area, which holds an oil discovery and two significant prospects in the Norwegian North Sea. It will also participate in four other license areas: Bream Appraisal, NE Troll, Block 35/8 part (south), and part of Block 35/9.

PA Resources was awarded a 20% share each in two new production licenses in the Norwegian North Sea. It has an interest in part of Blocks 25/3, 25/5, and 25/6, about 20 km east of the Heimdal field, and the second license is part of Blocks 35/8 and 35/9, which lie between the the Vega and Gjøa discoveries.

PA Resources' license lasts 5 years with a firm commitment to carry out technical work prior to making a decision to drill within the license, or drop the license within the first 2 years.

Of the 33 companies in total offered licenses by the Norwegian government, 8 companies are new entrants to the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The offers sent out include a total of 48 production licenses covering 85 blocks or parts of blocks—the highest number of licenses ever offered on the NCS.

Norway may offer as many as 10 additional licenses during the first half of this year and the government has already launched APA 2007 for 13 new blocks or parts of blocks.

Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].